IMC Hawks Blog

Category: Entertainment

  • Becoming the Beast of Hollywood East

    In the spirit of the holiday season, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to talk about one of Wilmington’s greatest treasures: EUE/Screen Gems Studios and Wilmington Regional Film Commission, Inc (WRFC). These businesses not only help improve the Wilmington economy but they also are huge supporters of the local community. Through various strategic tactics as well as some unintentional local promotion, the film industry is a driving force behind many of the local businesses in Wilmington.

    It should also be mentioned how many jobs EUE/Screen Gems Studio has helped create in our area. From cast, crew, and extras to the creation of new organizations, such as the WRFC, Wilmington’s job market expanded immensely when the EUE/Screen Gems Studio set up shop in 1996. EUE/Screen Gems Studios still create job opportunities for the Wilmington community today, and even offer UNCW film students the opportunity to improve their resume by guiding tour groups through the studio lot.

    To gain more insight into what community outreach WRFC is involved we spoke with one of their employees, Caleb Ward. He provided us with a quick explanation of how the WRFC works with local businesses. When movies or television shows begin their production in Wilmington, the WRFC provides them with a directory of local businesses. Local businesses do have to apply and pay for their appearance in the directory. However, for many local small businesses the benefits of being included in the publication immensely outweigh the monetary commitment. Local businesses such as Strickland’s Window Coverings have become a go-to for many productions because of their ability to keep up with the fast pace of the film industry’s demands. We aren’t talking months or even weeks, we are talking about days. Ward explained that it was Strickland’s production of a unique set of blinds that that paved the way for a promising business relationship with the film industry. The blinds ordered were to resemble those used in the White House during President Abraham Lincoln’s term. Strickland’s provided these blinds to the production company within two days of the order being placed. Strickland’s is not the only local business with a story like this. Julia’s Florist has seen a jump in business since tapping into the film industry for sales. Owner, Dana Cook, told Star News that she has begun receiving one to two film-related orders a day. To a small business this small increase in daily orders can have a large impact on their yearly sales. The WRFC recently hosted a brunch for local businesses not yet included in the directory. At the brunch, small business owners heard testimony from their fellow community members about what being involved with the film industry has done for them. This experiential marketing technique boosted the WRFC’s brand credibility with the local business owners who were potentially hearing from them for the first time. As a result, over half of the businesses in attendance were persuaded to join the directory.In addition to the opportunities created by the WRFC, the film industry brings about another kind of attention to the Wilmington area. With more major movies and television shows coming to the area, A-list celebrities are appearing more frequently. In the last year Wilmington has hosted: Jennifer Aniston, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Duhamel, Colbie Smulders, Emma Roberts, Channing Tatum, Julianne Hough, Ryan Seacrest, and Fergie. Just to name a few! Celebrities, now more than ever, have platforms that allow them to share their lives with fans. This platform is largely created by social media. Celebrities use their accounts for a variety of purposes including further extending their brand, raising awareness about different issues, and engaging with their fan base.

    Recently, the local business community in Wilmington has been able to benefit from these extensive platforms because celebrities have been sharing their local experiences via their various platforms. Celebrities, like Emma Roberts and Colbie Smulders, tweeted about North Carolina coffee joints that impressed them. This kind of publicity is remarkable because the celebrities are sharing their own unfiltered opinions and there is no telling how many people it could reach. Local businesses that impress the celebrities are often additionally covered by various news sources, such as Star News and The Examiner. This is added news coverage that wouldn’t be possible without EUE/Screen Gems Studios.

    There is one last tidbit that we simply cannot leave out. By bringing the film industry to Wilmington, EUE/Screen Gems Studios has facilitated the opportunity for the community to benefit from multiple philanthropic ventures. For example, when the filming of Iron Man 3 took over New Hanover County Medical Center the “producers reimbursed the hospital for staffing cost and made a donation to the center’s foundation, which supports various hospital programs.” Many other productions and actors have taken part in charity events that support local causes, such as One Tree Hill and Safe Haven.
    There are so many wonderful benefits of having EUE/Screen Gems Studios a part of our local community. Not only does is bring in an A-list crowd but it will continue to help boost the local economy and benefit local businesses. With the growing popularity of EUE/Screen Gems Studio, we are hopeful that the continuous influx of celebs and big movie/tv productions will help keep Wilmington, NC on the map of places to visit!

    – Alexandra Huss, Caroline Merrill, Alyssa Morrello, Lauren Van Trigt, Dann Williams

  • Have You Experienced the Rainbow?

    If you haven’t been to the Skittles website in a while (or perhaps, ever) now would be a good time to take a peek.  What you might expect to be a typical site, designed to provide advertisement and purchase opportunities, has undergone quite a facelift.  Unlike most sites, the website for Skittles has been reborn as a social media machine disguised as a blog.  Near the top of the page is the familiar Skittles slogan, “Taste the Rainbow.”  Scroll down a bit, and you’ll find an entirely irrelevant tweet from the Skittles Twitter account. @Skittles says, “It’s all fun and games until the chinchillas show up with the karaoke machine.” Next come a few phrases like “lace the train slow,” “trace the vein bro,” and “encase the faint glow,” all with coordinating pictures and all rhyming with the original slogan of “taste the rainbow.” Add a few quirky videos, more interesting tweets from fans, and many opportunities to share things via social media, and  you’ve pretty much summed up Skittles’ entire online marketing tactic.

    The Skittles commercials take on a similar level of oddity as their website.  Whether it’s a teenager catching “Skittles pox” from a “highly infected” friend with the message to “contract the rainbow,” or a guidance counselor eating Skittles out of a student’s unibrow with the message to “pluck the rainbow,” these commercials seem to be getting stranger and more extreme year to year.  So, do these weird messages work to promote their product?  Their 23 million Facebook fans, 47,000 followers on Twitter, and nearly 10 million views on YouTube would suggest that they do.

    As a product that has been a favorite with candy-lovers since their appearance in 1979, Skittles has little need for getting their brand noticed so much as keeping their brand relevant.  That’s exactly the idea behind their weird marketing.  By showcasing their social media followers on their website, and giving fans something different to talk about, Skittles is making people rethink what they already know about Skittles and driving them back to their brand.  The genius behind this tactic is that the product hasn’t changed.  What they are changing is stated right at the top of their site.  “Experience the rainbow.”  Skittles is changing the whole experience associated with their little chewy candies in a colorful shell to be more exciting and hilarious than before.

    What seems to appeal to consumers these days, especially to Skittles’ target market of pre-teens and adolescents, is the eccentric and the humorous.  Skittles has mastered both of these arts.  Not only are they staying relevant, they’re staying interesting.  As advertising trends continue to shift, Skittles will doubtless continue to meet the needs of their consumers and remain a favorite fruity snack to all.  The only question now, is what comes next.

    – Ally Walton, Hannah Eure, Gene Lee, Lauren Habig, Erin Kiffmeyer

  • White House Ballers

    With the re-election of President Barack Obama there is one sport that is overwhelmingly happy that he is staying another four years, and that sport is basketball. It is obvious to all that President Obama loves basketball and is more than happy to use his influence to help spread the game. It is well-known that he likes to fill out the NCAA March Madness brackets that everyone goes crazy for and is surprisingly good at it. Like most major sports, the NBA  championship team gets to visit the White House and meet the President for a photo-op. Obama,of course,  isn’t complaining since he is a huge NBA fan and has been to several games during his Presidency. Never before has a President been so involved with one sport that he can call upon the biggest name athletes in the NBA to come help him out at different charities and fundraiser events at any point in time and they will come running. For example, in this election year, Michael “Air” Jordan hosted a 3 million dollar fundraiser for President Obama in New York and had NBA players like Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Kyrie Irving, Joe Johnson, and Paul Pierce in attendance to play some hoops. With so many NBA superstars on his side he gets a good amount of publicity and respect from basketball fans all over the country. Obama is so integrated into the basketball world that the video game “NBA 2k13” has him show up as a character in the game to greet you at the White House when you win the championship in the game.

    Obama in 2K

    This is great publicity for the Commander-in-Chief, as basketball fans everywhere will see the President’s face every time they win the championship.  He may be the first President with the ability to advertise in a video game just because he loves the game of basketball so much. On election day he even plays his now-traditional “Election Day” basketball game with several big name NBA stars and a variety of White House aides. We think it’s safe to say that many basketball fans and basketball console gamers will be seeing more of President Obama the next four years.

    Eugene Lee, Lauren Habig, Erin Kiffmeyer, Hannah Eure, Ally Walton

  • To Sponsor or Not to Sponsor: That is the Question.

    Currently, one of the biggest trends in music is the presence of music festivals. These festivals host a number of bands from all different genres, pulling large audiences of varied consumers in to enjoy the shows. Festivals are generally a couple of days long and promote a laid-back lifestyle complete with camping tents and hammocks. We can thank Woodstock for this specified musical platform. However, is it also a platform for something else? In recent years, music festivals have also hosted a number of sponsors, who market their brands by simply surrounding festival goers with advertisements and products.

    But what is the benefit for companies that sponsor these events? Since companies spend time and money to become an integral part of the festival atmosphere there must be some sort of profitable gain. The major draw for companies is the audience. Generally speaking, attendees are in their late teens to late 20’s. This generational demographic, once targeted, are often very loyal consumers to their favorite brands. Companies hope to capitalize on this while festival-goers are having a good time, enjoying the music, and are open-minded. This audience is also very important because they have a larger disposable income than most. The ability to spend upwards of $400 for a two day music festival, says to companies that this demographic is, for the most part, either affluent or avid consumers.

    However, there is also a downside to being a sponsor at one of these events. Companies have to be very aware that if the audience does not perceive their product as one that coincides with the overall experience and atmosphere of the festival then they will either be completely ignored or considered an annoyance. For instance, a brewing company will do a lot better and be viewed much more positively than a law firm or insurance agency. In order to be successful as a sponsor you have to ensure that your product will enhance the mood, environment and fit the audience profile.

    One of the best examples of sponsorships working harmoniously with the specific nature of music festivals is Firefly, which was held for the first time this summer in Delaware.  Firefly made all of their vendors and sponsors local companies who brought a higher class of food and drink to the campsites. Instead of bombarding attendees with big named company sponsors Firefly chose to keep the music festival experience more authentic. Dogfish Head, their beer sponsor, even unveiled a new brew named the “Firefly Brew.” The event also had a TOMS Shoes tent, where you could purchase a pair of canvas slip-ons to be painted on-site by a local artist.

    Firefly was successful because they accompanied their musical line-ups with relevant sponsors, which in the end created a newer, more evolved and authentic version of a music festival experience.

    – Lauren Habig, Hannah Eure, Erin Kiffmeyer, Ally Walton, Gene Lee

  • The Twilight Saga Continues

    There was once a time when the word “vampire” was associated with fear, scary movies, and evil. No one wanted to be a vampire; they wanted to hide from vampires. Over the past few years words associated with vampires have been more along the lines of “sexy,” “exciting” and “cool.”  Many people believe you can trace these changes back to Twilight, the book series that was turned into a movie in 2008. Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight saga, completely altered the image of a typical vampire around. Vampires used to be portrayed as terrifying people who would only come out at night, slept in a coffin, and had skin that looked almost grey.  Meyer portrayed vampires as suave, fashionable, intelligent, and desirable. Instead of being harmed by sunlight, Twilight vampires simply sparkled when they were in the sun.  Young girls across the country swooned over Robert Pattinson when he became the star of the movie series. Many women even stated that they wanted to become a vampire.

    Since the first Twilight book hit bookstores back in 2005, this romanticized idea of vampires escalated into quite the fad in the entertainment industry. TV stations began to make their own spin offs of the vampire stories. Two of the most notable vampire shows are HBO’s “True Blood” and The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.” Both of these shows took hold of the idea of vampires having a vast amount of sex appeal. The casts are made up of attractive young men and women who spend a lot of time in romantic relationships with one another. Men and women alike are attracted to the vampires depicted on their television screens. These shows market vampires and their lives as being sexy, as you can see in the commercial for season 2 of The Vampire Diaries.

    TV producers saw the craze that the Twilight book and movie series created and took Myers’s idea and ran with it.  True Blood and Vampire Dairies have also created a strong audience that is keeping the Vampire trend alive.  These shows have not altered the image of vampires quite as much as Twilight did, rather they have definitely brought more attention to the vampire trend in the United States. Will these blood-suckers continue to be sexy and desired by all, or will vampires go crawling back to their coffins and return to their more spooky origins?

    – Jessie Butner, Meaghan Beam, Jack Lane, Zach Abramo

  • Does Humor Sell?

    During the 2010 NFL Super Bowl, Old Spice started a new marketing campaign, releasing the above commercial online and on television. It quickly became the “number one all-time most viewed” branded channel on Youtube. How did they achieve that success? By targeting women, who dominate the body wash market, and men with humor, it created for the first time a topic of conversation for couples around the nation. The marketing team also showed the commercials in certain movies where there was a “high amount of couples” were projected to go. So because of the topic of conversation that was generating millions of hits on YouTube, women began to buy Old Spice for their husbands and boyfriends so that they could “smell like the man your man can smell like.”

    But how did this campaign have continued success? Old Spice continued to use the “man your man can smell like” guy and let him interact with fans all over the internet who would ask him random questions that he would answer in his fashion. In one day alone Old Spice generated more hits on Youtube than Obama’s presidential victory speech, on day two he had 8 of 11 top videos on Youtube, and by the end had over 40 million people view his videos.

    The success of this campaign is astounding considering that ; the brands twitter following increased 2700%, Facebook fan interaction went up 800%, and traffic to the Old Spice website increased 300%. This made the bottom line of the company increased 107% 10 months after the release of the first Old Spice commercial.

    Shortly afterwards many companies have tried to have the same success, copying the Old Spice guy commercials to a certain degree but still enjoying some success. By making some of the funniest and memorable commercials of all-time Old Spice increased their brand awareness while making people laugh and had one of the most amazing marketing campaigns for a business ever. So does humor sell? This guy thinks so.

    – Ally Walton, Lauren Habig, Erin Kiffmeyer, Hannah Eure, Gene Lee

  • “Google Chrom-otional”

    The number one purpose of television commercials is to make the consumers believe they need a product. Many companies rely on humor or a catchy jingle to gain interest in their product. Another tactic that can be a tad more difficult to accomplish involves making that emotional connection with the viewers. Evoking an emotional response through the use of commercials has proven especially hard to do these days. It is difficult for companies to make an emotional impact on their viewers with such little air time. Additionally, companies face the difficulty of connecting the commercial’s story-line to the lives of a diverse group of viewers. Despite these challenges, Google Chrome has released a series of commercials that have actually been able to tug at the heartstrings of many viewers.

    These new advertisements not only display all the features that Google Chrome has to offer, but they are also able to leave a lasting impression on those who watch them. This emotional connection Google is able to make with the audience sets their advertising apart from competitors. They do this by using the short time of the commercial slot wisely. Instead of trying to get a jingle stuck in your head, they create what could be described as incredibly short films. By telling the audience a story, Google does more than show the audience a product. The audience feels a connection with the characters in the commercial. This type of connection is what Google is counting on. Their slogan “the web is what you make of it” gives the consumer the creative freedom to express themselves in any way, shape, or form. It challenges us to showcase our thoughts and to put ourselves out there in a way that has not been possible before. This is Google’s way of saying, “look what has been done, what will you do?”

    Google has also conquered an even harder challenge with this advertising campaign. Making superstars relatable is a challenge many people face working in the entertainment industry. Google managed it in just around one minute. One might think using Lady Gaga as a spokesperson would make a product seem out of touch with this world. However, Google focused in on how she draws support from her fans and showers them with love. All the while she is encouraging them to be who they are. It is hard not to be a Lady Gaga fan after watching the video. This is what makes Google Chrome’s campaign so successful. Not only does their product look good and have celebrity endorsement, the celebrity also looks good and the fans feel included in the production of the commercial as well. Everyone wins.

    Google Chrome has also recently made a commercial depicting the interaction between a father and daughter. The daughter, Jess, is struggling to find her place away at college and her father is her main support system as her mother has passed away. The commercial demonstrates the benefits of using Google Chrome to communicate and presents the ability to support loved ones even though they may be miles away. This commercial touches not only the hearts of homesick college students but also the parents suffering from empty nest syndrome. Suddenly, Google Chrome is a light in the confusing darkness and it can satisfy all of a family’s communication needs. Again, everyone wins.

    Google Chrome has taken a risk by using an emotional appeal in their recent commercials, straying away from the many humorous or just downright strange commercials aired today. The integration of Google Chrome as an instrument to change human behavior is a major move on Google’s part. The notion that we can use Google Chrome to improve the way we live our lives is bold, but after all… the web is what you make of it.

    – Alexandra Huss, Caroline Merrill, Alyssa Morrello, Lauren Van Trigt, Dann Williams